Introduction to Poetry
4th Grade
Famous Poets• Kipling• Keats• Silverstein• Dickenson• Poe
Would you like your name to be added to this list?
• Sandburg• Prelutsky
• Browning
Messy Roomby Shel Silverstein
Whosever room this is should be ashamed!His underwear is hanging on the lamp.His raincoat is there in the overstuffed chair,And the chair is becoming quite mucky and damp.
His workbook is wedged in the window,His sweater's been thrown on the floor.His scarf and one ski are beneath the TV,And his pants have been carelessly hung on the door.
His books are all jammed in the closet,His vest has been left in the hall.A lizard named Ed is asleep in his bed,And his smelly old sock has been stuck to the wall.
Whosever room this is should be ashamed!Donald or Robert or Willie or--Huh? You say it's mine? Oh, dear,I knew it looked familiar!
Wordsby Mrs. Dattola
Words, words
Not just any words
Words in my mind
Words on my lips
Words on the page
Words in my audience’s voice
Words found in verse
Words well chosen
Words with hidden meaning
Words with clear pictures
Words, words
Not just any words
10 easy tips to help you write better poetryBy Gary R. Hess
http://www.poemofquotes.com/articles/10-easy-tips-to-write-better-poetry.php
1. Use a Thesaurus.
2. Freestyle isn’t always best;
try a poetry form.
3. Learn about types of rhyme.
4. Take your time.
5. Read your poetry aloud.
6. Read more poetry.
7. Analyze famous poets.
8. Write more poetry.
9. Gain more experiences.
10.Seek and listen to critics.
Two types of PoetryLyrical
poetry ruled by measured beats, such as with musical songs
Free Verse
poetry not ruled by musical beats and patterns
http://dictionary.reference.com/
Lyrical Poetrymeans having the form and musical quality of a song,
a rhythmic flow words.
It is the arrangement of words in
regularly measured, patterned, or
rhythmic lines or verses. http://dictionary.reference.com/
Different Types of Lyrical Poetry
Haiku
LimerickQuatrain
Diamante
Cinquain
Free VerseFibonacci
Figurative Language
Example: Similes and Metaphors•http://www.answers.com/topic/literal-and-figurative-language#ixzz1qpASnZNp
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: The use of words as way as to evoke mental images and sense impressions; not literal
A Quote from Ralph Fletcher…
“I could feel that swarm of feelings buzzing in my chest day and night. I needed some kind of
container to hold all of them. Poetry became that container.”
Page 12-13 from Poetry Matters: Writing a Poem from the Inside Out
Syllable
http://www.answers.com/topic/syllable#ixzz1qpNmmTdF
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: A unit of spoken language consisting of a single uninterrupted sound
Meter
http://dictionary.reference.com/
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: beat, rhythm
Synonyms: accent, cadence, division, melody, rhyme, step, stress, swing, tempo, throb, time, tune, verse, vibration
Listen for the beat and rhythm in the following poem:
Jack and Jill
Jack and Jill ran up the hill
To fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down and broke his crown,
And Jill came tumbling after.
http://www.poemofquotes.com/funny-poems/jack-and-jill.php
Listen for the beat and rhythm in the following poem:
Little strokes
Fell great oaks.
-Benjamin Franklin
http://www.poetrysoup.com/poetry_forms/index.aspx?Letter=E
Cinquaintriangles
pointy edgesrevolving, rotating, anglingTriangles are all different.
180o
http://teams.lacoe.edu/documentation/classrooms/amy/algebra/5-6/activities/poetry/cinquain.html
The modern cinquain is based on a word count of words of a certain type.
The traditional cinquain is based on a syllable count per line –
Line 1 - 2 syllables
Line 2 - 4 syllables
Line 3 - 6 syllables
Line 4 - 8 syllables
Line 5 - 2 syllables
http://www.poetrysoup.com/poetry_forms/index.aspx?Letter=C
A Quote from Ralph Fletcher…
“Think of a poem as an X-ray. Just as an X-ray penetrates to examines the bones inside your
body, poem can probe the “bones” of your inner being.”
Page 17 from Poetry Matters: Writing a Poem from the Inside Out
Rhyme
EXAMPLE:
Find is a rhyme for mind and womankind.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/stanza
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: a word agreeing with another in terminal sound:
Stanza
**Compared to a paragraph in conventional writing**http://www.thefreedictionary.com/stanza
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: One of the divisions of a poem, composed of two or more lines usually characterized by a common pattern of meter, rhyme, and number of lines.
QuatrainA Quatrain is a stanza or poem of four lines, the four lines can
be written in any rhyme scheme.
Alternating Quatrain:
a four line stanza rhyming "ABAB.“
http://www.uni.edu/~gotera/CraftOfPoetry/quatrain.html
From W.H. Auden's "Leap Before You Look“
The sense of danger must not disappear:
The way is certainly both short and steep,
However gradual it looks from here;
Look if you like, but you will have to leap.
A Quote from Ralph Fletcher…
“Try ‘poem speak’. Speak to someone inside the poem. Poem-speak is like condensed milk, which
is made thicker and sweeter when the water is removed.”
Page 17 from Poetry Matters: Writing a Poem from the Inside Out
Verse
http://www.answers.com/topic/verse
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: One line of a poem
DiamonteA diamante is a seven line poem, shaped like a diamond.•Line 1: one word(subject/noun that is contrasting to line 7)
•Line 2: two words(adjectives) that describe line 1
•Line 3: three words(action verbs) that relate to line 1
•Line 4: four words (nouns)first 2 words relate to line 1last 2 words relate to line 7
•Line 5: three words(action verbs) that relate to line 7
•Line 6: two words(adjectives) that describe line 7
•Line 7: one word( subject/noun that is contrasting to line 1) http://teams.lacoe.edu/documentation/classrooms/amy/algebra/5-6/activities/poetry/diamante.html
square symmetrical, conventional shaping, measuring, balancing boxes, rooms, clocks, halosencircling, circumnavigating, enclosing round, continuous circle
A Quote from Ralph Fletcher…
“An image is like a picture. If you want to create strong images, get in the habit of observing the
world so you can create your own pictures using words. Pay attention. Be alive to what’s going on around you, as well inside you, because both will
provide you with images for your poems.”
Page 21 from Poetry Matters: Writing a Poem from the Inside Out
Imagery
http://www.answers.com/topic/image-1#ixzz1qpQB5cfh
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: The use of vivid or figurative language to represent objects, actions, or ideas.
MeterPart of Speech:
noun
Definition: Rhythmic pattern of syllables
HaikuThe most common form for Haiku is
three short lines.
first line five (5) syllables
the second line seven (7) syllables
the third line contains five (5) syllables.
Haiku doesn't rhyme. A Haiku must "paint" a mental image in the reader's
mind. This is the challenge of Haiku - to put the poem's meaning and imagery in the reader's mind in ONLY 17 syllables
over just three (3) lines of poetry!
http://volweb.utk.edu/school/bedford/harrisms/haiku.htm
The Rose
Poet: Donna Brock
The red blossom bends
and drips its dew to the ground.
Like a tear it falls
A Quote from Ralph Fletcher…
“Convey feelings through images. Poets carefully select objects or images for their poems. If you pick the right ones, you don’t have to use the
word for the feeling you’re trying to get across to the reader.”
Page 17-18 from Poetry Matters: Writing a Poem from the Inside Out
Line Breaks
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_does_line_break_mean_in_terms_of_poetry
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: where a large space is added to emphasize a pause or silence.
LimerickPoet: Edward Lear
There was an Old Man with a beard,Who said 'It is just as I feared! -
Two Owls and a Hen, Four Larks and a Wren,
Have all built their nests in my beard!
http://www.poetryamerica.com/Limerick.asp
A limerick is a verse of five lines, usually humorous. The last word of lines one, two, and five must rhyme with each other, and the last word of lines three and four must rhyme with each other. (And not with lines 1,2 and 3).
Line 1 Long Rhyme 1 Line 2 Long Rhyme 1 Line 3 Short Rhyme 2 Line 4 Short Rhyme 2 Line 5 Long Rhyme 1
A Quote from Ralph Fletcher…
Read Pages 116-117 from Poetry Matters: Writing a Poem from the Inside Out for Ralph
Fletcher’s thoughts on Free Verse Poetry.
Free VerseFree verse is a form of poetry that refrains from consistent meter patterns, rhyme, or any other musical patterns.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_verse
Song of Myselfby
Walt Whitman
I celebrate myself, and sing myself,And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
I loaf and invite my soul,I lean and loaf at my ease observing a spear of
summer grass
Free or not Free?
Poets have explained that free verse, despite its freedom, is not free. Free Verse displays some elements of form. Most free verse, for example, self-evidently continues to observe a convention of the poetic line in some sense. Some poets have considered free verse restrictive in its own way.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_verse
Free or Not Free?T. S. Eliot wrote, "No verse is free for the man who wants to do a good job."
Robert Frost later remarked that writing free verse was like “playing tennis without a net.”
William Carlos Williams said being an art form, verse cannot be free in the sense of having no limitations or guiding principles.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_verse
Poetry
Try It…You may like it!!